It’s the first day of school. Students are bustling in and out of the school, debating whether or not they should have even come. The anxiety sets in and all of a sudden, the perfect group has just been found. This response is automatic and didn’t take much time. The reason being, a multitude of reasons. The science is now being uncovered.

She felt American. As if a person could ever “feel” American. Whatever that means: “American.” All she knew was she felt no different than any other kid her age, and, for senior Jessica Taghvaiee, it would always be that way. But kindergarten began the first of many instances of realization that, despite how similar she felt, people would always categorize her as different.

Hunger. From age four and every second since then, senior Morgan Taylor has hungered competition; and, at the start of her junior year, she was fueled by an ample supply of the stuff. With varsity letters for drill, cross country, and track already under her belt, she looked forward to another year of competing in every way possible--and for a while it was just that.